Japan, Gender, Media, Culture

Festival Season Begins

August is summer festival season in Japan, and no one does festivals quite like my region. In my part of the peninsula, a festival is not done properly unless large quantities of fire and water are involved. Our prefectural welcome party was Thursday, and after enjoying delicious okonomiyaki, we headed to the Sea-Walking Festival in the northern part of the area. In this festival, participants shoulder giant lanterns called kiriko and carry them through the town and into the sea.

There were bonfires lit in structures above the water, and a spectacular fireworks display launched from the docks. We weren’t sure if the shrine-carriers would light the kiriko (giant lanterns) on fire, but eventually they made their way back to the beach. I was in the middle of taking a photo when one of our group members started yelling, “Move! MOVE!” We were all standing in the path of the shrine, which was being pulled up on ropes back into the town. We all trucked out of there through the sand, because one that shrine starts moving, there’s no stopping it.

At this point, anyone can grab a rope and help pull the shrine back through town. I figured, Hey, once in a lifetime opportunity, and grabbed hold. The rope was absolutely covered in sand. We stopped the shrine at one point, and I was relieved that we’d stopped, but it turned out that we stopped because we were about to crash the kiriko into a storefront. Thus the pulling began again, until we had successfully navigated the structure across a bridge. All the while, the drum beat in time and the leaders yelled, “ASA ASA!” to which the shrine-bearers and the rope-pullers responded, “ASA ASA!”

This festival only lasts a few hours and centers on the act of moving the shrines and kiriko. I’ll be attending several more this season, and for the bigger ones, I fully intend to wear my yukata since I won’t be dragging a shrine around.